Father-son crowbar fight won't result in charges, officials decide

No charges will be filed in the fight between a father and son that involved a crowbar early Monday morning.

Police arrested Shannon L. Coleman, 39, after they found him and his 20-year-old son, Zakkary, bruised and bloodied in their basement. They accused Coleman of hitting his son with a crowbar, causing injuries to his head and torso, during an argument over money and the time the son returned home.

Zakkary Coleman was also arrested for punching his father during the fight at their home, 1048 G Ave. NW.

Linn County Attorney Jerry Vander Sanden said in an e-mail that his office declined to file charges in the incident Tuesday morning.

"Our office cannot prosecute 'cross-defendant' cases where each is charged with an assault against the other and there is no independent witness to the incident," Vander Sanden wrote. "Each would invoke their Fifth Amendment right if called to testify against the other."

Vander Sanden said it was impossible to determine who initiated the fight and who was the primary aggressor, based on the information his office was provided.

"They both seemed to be mutual voluntary combatants who got into a fight with the other, and criminal charges were not supported by the evidence," Vander Sanden wrote.

Both men were treated and released from local hospitals before being taken to jail Monday.

Shannon Coleman has been convicted of domestic abuse assault eight times since 2000, according to online court records. He was scheduled to be sentenced on July 1 for one of the charges and a separate forgery charge.

Zakkary Coleman was convicted of domestic abuse assault three times in 2010.